Virtual Reality: Dark Days

No Other Way

It had been the first time that Shamar had entered his apartment. His recent adventures with Alex hadn't allowed him to make such moves out of fear. He feared the day Callahan would notice him. There was no telling how many other people were being paid by this creative genius. The odds of him sending someone else was highly likely now that Tobias was dead. Since spending so much time away from the apartment, he realized how little he actually cared for it. He spent so many hours and put so much money into the game. It all seemed useless. At this point in time, there was no longer a need to waste his money on such a product. Instead of actually taking care of himself, he took more care of his avatar within the game. A part of him blamed Tobias for all of this. Now, not so much. He realized that he was a true enemy to himself. Tobias never told him to buy this game and waste so much money on it. He did. The only thing Tobias did was kill someone he loved. He believed he was going to finally make her proud by this. Finally, the people that ended their lives would be facing the justice they deserved. It wouldn't bring her back. It would only make him feel some sort of peace for not doing anything more after she died.

“So what’s the plan?” Alex stepped into the tiny apartment. “You wouldn’t have brought me here if there wasn’t a plan.”

“Oh, there’s a plan.” Shamar closed the door behind Alex. “Follow me.”

The battles that Shamar had endured recently were starting to wear his body down. He could barely walk anymore. The only thing he wanted more was to sit on the couch and sleep. They were so close to finishing this, Shamar couldn't help but keep pushing forward. Once this was all over, kicking back and enjoying a nice blunt would make it all better for him. That was what he was aiming for at the end of that day.

“You okay?” Alex was hoping the man wasn’t dying on him. “You were stabbed pretty much everywhere.”

“Yeah.” Shamar began to sit himself up. “Now, let’s get to this shit.”

With the help of the cell phone they stole from Tobias, they now had access to all of his contacts. Whoever and whatever they wanted was now free to them. No one else mattered on that phone but Jason Callahan.

“Good.” Shamar said he liked how the plan was moving so far. “You’re going to text Callahan pretending to be Dunn. Tell him that you have your head. Whatever he decides to do after that will all depend on you.”

“Okay,” Alex asked nervously. “What if he doesn’t buy the bait?”

“Then we’re both going to jail tonight.” Shamar said coldly. “One of us will have failed tonight.”

“What do you mean?” Alex knew that Shamar was planning on going solo. “Aren’t you and I doing the same thing?”

“No.” Shamar began to explain. “I’m going back into the game.”

“Why?” Alex didn’t understand. “What’s in there?”

“The file that I have on every murder committed by the same people.” Shamar almost felt excited to reveal this information. “I’m going to send it to everyone. Any one is currently logged into the game will receive this. They’ll see each and ever face that tried killing you that day and will recognize them as workers of the Virtual Reality company. This’ll cause the police to get involved in the game and see it all for themselves. It’ll cause the company to trend in ways they don’t want to and possibly end their reign of terror.”

“Whoa.” Alex was amazed. “But won’t that cause the authorities to track this leak back to you?”

“Yes.” Shamar came down from the excitement he was feeling with Alex. “I realized that I might not walk away from this freely, kid. I’ve really got nothing left in this world. I wish I could move forward in a better way but this is it.”

“So you’re just going to give up?” Alex was enraged. “After everything we’ve seen? After everything we’ve done?”

“I can’t keep running,” Shamar said. “You can do this forever. But me? I’m not built for that type of lifestyle. You gotta forget about me and move on. Leave this city. Hell, leave the country.”

This was not how Alex wanted things to end with Shamar. While every part of his young mind saw this decision as stupidity, there was the more mature part of him that knew that he'd do the same thing if he was in Shamar's shoes. Shamar was older. His experience definitely didn't make him seem older, but there were things that Alex could do fluidly that Shamar no longer could. This was going to be a rough time for Alex as he now would have to take on a new life. Far from computers. Far from any desks. Going from place to place. Shooting people he would need to. Trusting people he never thought he could. The young gamer would probably never touch a game ever again in his life. But he was ready for anything now. As long as he got to face Callahan one more time.

“Okay.” Alex understood. “Let’s take these fuckers down.”

Alex was having a back and forth conversation with Jason under the disguise of Tobias through text messages. Jason wasn't a very trustworthy person, at least not these days. So he demanded proof of Alex's death. Alex was scared to know that he may have to think of a way to send the creator pictures. He realized that these text messages aren't as secretive as they may think. If anyone wanted to incriminate Callahan for the supposed death of Alex, the pictures would be seized from the phone and brought up in court. With Alex having that idea in his head, he sent that message to Jason, hoping the creator wouldn't call him out as a liar. Luckily, it was all a test. Jason knew that sending photos like that over the phone would incriminate both of them. Alex did well in being very anxious. It worked in his favor because now, Callahan wanted to meet with him in person. Alex celebrated with himself for a second until he remembered one simple thing. He has no idea where Jason Callahan lives. He was stuck for a minute, trying to figure out how he'd even get Jason to send him his address. But even doing that would get the young gamer caught in his lie. So he came up with another idea. Tobias must've been to his place before. The address must've come up somewhere in their conversation. All it took for Alex was to type in the keyword address and suddenly he found multiple texts about addresses. Some were of places for a meet up, others belonged to people he wanted dead. Eventually, there came a text about Jason's penthouse location. It was recent enough for Callahan to still live there, which was enough for Alex to trust. He tapped on the link and it sent him straight to the navigation app. There, Alex was given multiple routes to the same apartment building in New York. With the fastest route being his choice, the journey began!

It looked to be the most expensive building in the entire city. Alex stared up at the apartment building Jason lived in and nearly lost control of his emotions. The fact that a man as evil as Jason could live in a building so lavish made him want to puke. But once he remembered what he came here to do, he gained control over his emotions. He was here to make sure that the power Jason had was stripped from him for all the wrongs he'd done in the past.

While he had the right intentions, there was still one question that remained. What was going to be the plan once Alex got to the penthouse? Killing Callahan had been the mission from the very beginning, but look at what that's done for him. So many people have died at the hands of Alex that the NYPD more than likely have him at the top of their wanted list. He had done so much just to get to this moment here and yet, he had no idea what to do.

Killing Callahan wouldn't suddenly undo everything he's done. It wouldn't make all those that were killed by Jason come back to life. Making him live with his choices would only make him suffer. But what if suffering wasn't enough to stop him? What if he only changed for a day and then went back on his killing spree? There were too many things to contemplate and not enough time. For soon, he had to come up with his own decision and that choice would stick with him forever.

The elevator began taking Alex up to the penthouse floor. Still unsure of what to do once, he came face to face with the man that had tried so hard to kill him. If he didn't kill Jason, then Jason might very well end up killing him.

When the elevator finally stopped and the doors opened, Alex saw something he should have expected, but didn't. There was a man standing guard at the door. A Chinese-American man who had almost the same body as Alex. There may have been a chance to easily take this guy down. But looks can often be very misleading. Alex could tell that he had to be on guard against this guy. Jason wouldn't put him in charge of protecting him for nothing.

He was armed with a single hand gun that was now aimed at Alex the moment he stepped out of the elevator.

“Don’t move!” The security guard shouted before speaking into his earpiece that connected directly with Jason. “He’s outside.”

Alex tried his best to get the man to see that he meant no harm, but that wasn't fooling the guard. There was no way he could just stop moving. He was so close to the door. Alex moved forward with his hands still up, trying to convince the guard that he wasn't a threat.

“Stop!” The security guard shouted once more. “If I tell you again, I’m blowing your motherfucking brains out!”

Alex heard every word and believed it. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop. Once the guard noticed it, he shot at Alex. It was a warning. This was enough to stop Alex. He would definitely be killed at this point. So he came up with another way around this. He hoped that the guard would approach him once he got on his knees and surrendered.

The guard did just that. He approached Alex with the intent of turning him over to the police, but that was not going to happen today. Alex watched the guard get close enough for an attack. He quickly threw his head into the guard's face, causing the young guard to step back disillusioned. Alex rose to his feet and ran with so much force in his step that he sent himself and the guard through the penthouse doors!

With one look, Jason Callahan knew that it was true. Tobias had failed in killing Alex. The part that disappointed him most was that he now had to deal with this himself. Once both the guard and Alex rose to their feet, Jason immediately relieved the guard.

“No.” Jason put his hand out “I’ll handle him.”

“But sir.” The guard said. “He’s dangerous.”

“He won’t kill me.” Jason assured the guard. “Go back to your post.”

That was all it took for the guard to leave both Jason and Alex to themselves in the room. They were all alone now. After all this time, they were face to face. The only thing Jason could do was greet Alex with a handshake. Alex just stared him in the eyes with such intensity. He was disgusted to see the man even smiling right now.

“Wanna go somewhere more private?” Jason asked.

“Whatever.” Alex said toughly.

In the dining room of the penthouse, Jason sat by himself with Alex just standing at the other side of the table. Jason found it incredibly dramatic for the gamer to just stand there, so he offered him a seat. Alex didn't even trust the situation enough to get comfortable in a seat. He remained standing and Jason just shrugged it off.

“So.” Jason was curious. “What do you remember?”

“I remember everything.” Alex said. “I remember you trying to kill me. I remember you having a crush on me and hating me for not feeling the same way.”

“Yikes.” Jason exaggerated. “You must be so very pissed.”

“You sent people that worked with me.” Alex became rageful. “People that I laughed with every day! You sent them to kill me!”

“And you survived.” Jason added. “No one usually survives. Which makes me wonder what kind of a man you are?”

“I’m someone that you should have never messed with!” Alex shouted. “Killing away your problems won't solve anything! Look at you, you ever got used to it. You never even thought for a second that one of them might actually survive.”

“Actually,” Jason said. “I was betting on your survival. For all the reasons that I’ve had someone killed, yours hurt the most. I thought, and I still do, think about how you’re the most beautiful human being I’ve ever laid eyes on. But you don’t see me in that same way. Do you know what it’s like to want something and never have it?”

“I do,” Alex said. “I experience it a lot. A lot more than you can possibly imagine.”

“Then you know the pain of not having that want,” Jason said. “Knowing every day that you wake up, that it can never be in your hands. You can call me petty or childish, but when you have the powers I have, sometimes you just want to make things happen. I won’t lie to you when I say I regret having sentenced you to death. I wished, and I still do wish, that I could deal with this type of feeling like regular people do. I wish I could ignore it and move on. But I want you, Alex, and I want you badly.”

Jason felt the need to try and comfort Alex during this stressful moment. He placed his hand on his cheek and somehow thought that he'd be able to kiss him. But the moment he looked into Alex's eyes, he saw that those feelings still weren't there. There was no words that Jason could use to make Alex want him. Jason didn't care. He wanted to know what Alex's lips felt like in the moment so he did what he wanted. Jason forcefully kissed Alex and Alex did not like it. As he grabbed Jason by the collar of his shirt, he felt a gun being pressed against his stomach. Jason had a hidden gun on him the whole time and was going to use it on Alex if he didn't comply. Jason removed his lips from Alex and kept the gun trained on him.

This was another thing that Alex should have seen coming, but didn't. Seeing Jason hold a gun at him was shocking. The moment Jason saw how surprised Alex was at his secret, he knew that he had control over this entire situation. Slowly, he walked back over to his seat and sat down on it. There was nothing Alex could do to get away with Jason. Jason was staring him down hard.

“Take the gun and shoot me dead.” Jason said. “And know that once you do, every person that ever cared for me on a level that I can’t comprehend will come for you. Fanboys. Officers of the law. Lawyers. I can go on. No matter where you hide, you won’t be able to hide well enough to escape them. You leave without killing me and you never come back. We never speak of this and I won’t send anyone after you. The people that you killed are another thing, but I won’t have any hand in it. I promise.”

When Alex had invisioned how things would go today, this was not what he saw. Everything had gone in a direction he didn't want it to go in. While they were easy options, none of it would put Jason in the ground or in jail. Alex stood looking at Jason, considering his words and then considering taking the gun. Jason was a monster that had killed a lot of people. He sent an agent of the law to kill him just because he didn’t feel the same way back? A person like Jason doesn't even deserve to live. They are an issue that needed to be dealt with… but at what cost? Sure, that would be one less problem, but there are so many other problems. There are thousands of people on the Earth that kill because they can’t get what they want. Killing just one won’t change anything. It would only satisfy Alex, Shamar, Tabitha and anyone else that he may have caused problems with. This wasn’t the way.

Alex grabbed the gun. As he weighed his options, he pointed the gun directly at Jason. This was the perfect chance to end this man's life and move on from all his problems. Everyone he has ever killed will be avenged. Justice would be served on a level that wouldn't suit most people, but it would be served. Which is why Alex dropped the magazine from the gun onto the table. The type of justice that Jason needed to be served was by a gun.

This entire event was not something Jason saw coming. He actually expected Alex to kill him in that moment. Jason wanted Alex to run for the rest of his life knowing that people would be after him. But he did the complete opposite of what he thought he would do. Alex was no longer the scared young gamer that he once knew. He was now a man that was making his own decisions the right way. Jason was annoyed. He wanted to see the man crumble at his feet and beg for forgiveness, but that was not coming from Alex this time. All Alex could do now was turn around and leave. He would never see Jason again and he would never attempt to end his life again. The mission was over.

A while ago, Alex didn't even know who he was or what was going on. He knew that he had to find the truth about himself but ended up learning that there was a deep dark secret about who he was being targeted for murder. Alex was scared. He didn't know who to trust after the revelation of his attempted murder. He was being hunted by people he didn't even remember, but had a past with. So instead of letting them come to him, he went after them. And little by little, he remembered everything about his past. But that soon alerted the authorities of what he was doing. His days of hunting people were coming to and end, so he went as Jason for one final attack. While it failed, he ended up finding a new way to meet his foe. Jason still lived after this. A man like him had too much power to just be killed. Maybe some time in the future, Jason would learn from this mistake and want to change. Seek help for all the mental issues he's got. But then again, Jason Callahan was a man that didn't see anything wrong with himself, just in others. As long as he was making money, there wouldn't be a single person on this planet that could change the way his mind thinks. Not even Alex.

Alex had to look past this moment though. It was now going to become a distant memory in his life. New York would never allow him to step foot back into the city again. It didn't affect him as much as it would some, since he didn't really have much of a life here, so he left. He took Shamar's advice and began taking his adventures state by state, eventually country by country. This was his new life. A life away from New York. A life away from Jason Callahan. A life away from Virtual Reality. No more mistakes from here on.

As for Shamar, he had managed to do exactly what he set out to do. He logged back into the game for the first time in a long time and grabbed the files that were sent to him by the hacker Tobias killed. With a few simple tricks from the said hacker, he was able to break into the system and send the footage to every gamer currently logged on. All it took was three seconds to complete the transfer into the game. One by one, the people playing Virtual Reality received text messages from an unknown number. Curious to see what it was, they opened the message and saw ten different videos that they could simply tap on. The footage they saw all made them all feel unsafe, knowing that people using the Real Engine could do this to them at any given moment. While there were so many gamers that found it to be fake, others didn't. They used their social media voices to get the company trending in the worst way possible. Each post was about how vicious the creators could be for letting this happen. Even allowing those that were part of the murders to still work for the company.

After all the buzz on social media, the police eventually got involved. Before they could even begin to interrogate the people working for the company, they needed to find the person who hacked into the game and leaked these videos to the gamers. They tracked it all back to Shamar, who was waiting for the officers to arrive at his apartment. He was not only arrested for illegally breaking into the system, but for the crimes he committed with Alex. But things didn't stop there for the police.

The police got a warrant to search the companies files, just to make sure this was all true while interrogating the ones found in the videos. None of them denied what they did and were arrested for the murder of ten different people. Since Jason's name was never even brought up in the interrogations nor was he seen in the videos, the young creator was not arrested or charged for anything. He simply pretended to be unaware of it all and everyone believed him.

Even though Jason was never arrested, his company was eventually sued. Nearly half of the workers of the company were arrested and the families that had lost their loved ones in the game would now be compensated for nearly 15% of the company's earnings. Even those that had no idea about what was going on didn't like it and decided to go work for a less troublesome gaming company. Virtual Reality was in a bad spot now and within a year they found themselves to no longer be at the top anymore. There were a lot of people who feared to even play the game, believing they'd be targeted by the company. The families received their earnings monthly. No one wanted to work for a company that had been known for killing their players and workers.

Jason Callahan should have been feeling extremely low right now, but he wasn't. It didn't matter to him that no one wanted to apply anymore. He would happily pay anyone that had been wronged by the company over the years. Eventually this would all blow over and people would go back to playing his technically advanced game again. He was sure of it. None of this bad publicity mattered to him. This was his game. He built it from the ground up. No one was going to stop him or the game from making money. Virtual Reality would live on, even if the name would be surrounded with public issues. For as long as Jason Callahan ran the company, it would stay afloat by any means necessary.

Shamar had been arrested for all the wrong doings he had commited with Alex and hacking into the game. Even if the leak he made allowed justice to finally be served to Jason and his reign of terror, they still arrested him. He would spent the next 15 to 20 years of his life in prison for what he did. The pain of being stuck in the same place for that long would affect some, but for Shamar, he didn't care. Shamar had nothing else waiting for him outside this prison. His life was pretty much gone and his love was dead. There was much else to look forward to. If anything, his days with Alex were some of the best moments of his life. He felt free once again. No longer being shackled down by the weight of people dying or being dead. It was due to his imprisonment that Shamar could finally see this. He wished he could see Alex one more time, to thank him for giving him the push he needed to step out of his bubble.

Tabitha had come to visit him nearly a year after being sentenced. It was good to see her face since he began to think he'd never see her again. The thought alone made him wish he were upset with her, but he wasn't. Since being in this facility, he was happy for this one time.

“Hey.” Tabitha said. “How’s your asshole?”

“Ha.” Shamar pretended to laugh. “No one’s getting in there.”

“Good.” Tabitha smiled. “I just wanted to see how you were holding up in here.”

“I’m at peace.” Shamar shrugged. “Besides, the folks that I put away here are beginning to like me.”

“I’m sure they were very happy to see your face.” Tabitha laughed. “Listen, I’ve heard that they’re still looking for the kid.”

“And?” Shamar asked.

“Don’t worry.” Tabitha tried to cover up her joy. “They haven’t been able to get any leads on him in a year. He’s just disappeared.”

“Yeah.” Shamar was glad. “Well good luck with that. He's a smart kid.”

The conversation between the two carried on afterwards moving on to things they hadn't been able to say to each other in nearly a year. No matter what they spoke about, in the back of his mind, Shamar thought about Alex. He wanted the kid to stay alive through his adventures and stay away from trouble. There was no way they'd ever meet again, but it didn't stop him from thinking about it. Laughing over what they were able to do together. How together, they brought down evil and brought up justice to those that couldn't seek it themselves. Even if Shamar would be in this place for nearly two decades, he was at peace with what they did and where it got him.